Critical Technology
The Critical Technology podcast explores cutting edge research on the social, cultural, and political implications of new technological developments. For our second season, we're focusing on game changing scholarship and theories about children, youth, and digital technology -- in recognition of the adoption of General Comment 25: Children's Rights in the Digital Environment by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in early 2021. The Critical Technology podcast is an initiative of the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) at the University of Toronto. Produced, edited and hosted by Dr. Sara Grimes (KMDI Director/Professor at the Faculty of Information). Audio mix and sound design by Mika Sustar. Music by Nicholas Manalo. Theme song by Taekun Park. Illustrations by Kenji Toyooka. Podcast logo by JP King. You can find additional info and materials for each episode on our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/
Episodes
17 episodes
Reactionary Digital Politics Part 2
Games, memes, and parodies are increasingly used by extremist groups to spread misinformation and to lower the barriers to entry into extreme ideologies. But is there a deeper strategy at work? And if so, what's the end game? In Part 2 of this ...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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35:35
Reactionary Digital Politics Part 1
Digital technologies are increasingly used as ideological weapons of misinformation, manipulation, propaganda, and radicalization. But how exactly are social media platforms and memes used by ideological extremists? And what are they trying to ...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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42:01
The Artist and the Automaton
While Dall-E, Stable Diffusion, and other popular AI-image systems have rekindled the debate about the future of creative work in the digital age, many cultural industries are already heavily reliant on machine learning and automation to produc...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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36:48
Land-Based Relations in/and Digital Technology
Many of us are thinking more deeply about our relationships with the land these days. Through land acknowledgements inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. In response to the growing urgency, and immediac...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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39:21
Debugging by Design
Although computing technologies are now ubiquitous in much of the West and other parts of the world, there are still significant inequalities when it comes to who has access to computer science education. Powerful cultural stereotypes about who...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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37:56
The Digital (Neighbour)hood
How, where, and what kids and teens learn about safe sex, substance use, and other health-related topics is incredibly important. Especially for young people who are already dealing with higher risk factors, such as neighbourhood poverty and vi...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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38:12
Kids and Emotional AI
As smart toys, virtual assistants, and machine learning apps spread across our homes and schools, an increasing number of children are now living, learning, and growing up around artificial intelligence or “AI”. Yet, we still know very little a...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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36:00
Black Girls Swim
Ongoing debates about how digital technologies impact children’s health and well-being often frame sports as the opposite or even antidote to sedentary screen time. For centuries, children’s sports have served as a symbol of a “good” chil...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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37:23
Child Data Citizen
We all know that the global data economy relies on the ongoing collection, exchange and use of massive amounts of our data – from personal information, to what we do online, to algorithmic forecasts about what we might to do in the future. But ...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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36:51
Kids Across the Spectrums
There is incredible diversity in children’s relationships with digital technologies, which introduce a range of opportunities and challenges for their rights, learning, and wellbeing. Kids on the spectrum, however, must also contend with popula...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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34:17
Creativity Everything
From sourdough starters and "covid gardens," to homemade face masks and Sea Shanty TikToks, the pandemic has inspired a boom in crafting, making, artistic expression, and everyday creativity. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the ...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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35:51
Transgressive/Toxic Play
Digital gaming is a vital source of fun, relaxation, learning and social connection for kids and adults alike. But people don’t always “play nice” and games can also become the sites of interpersonal conflict, trolling, and seriously harmful be...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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35:00
Distributed Blackness
In his critically acclaimed new book, Distributed Blackness: African American Cybercultures (2020, New York University Press), Dr. Andre Brock Jr, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, positions Blackness at the very centre...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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37:12
The City as Platform
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across our devices, information systems, and built environments is reshaping the design and function of the technologies that surround us. From AI-generated designer chairs to smart cities, this s...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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36:07
Educational Technologies in Refugee Camps
Educational technologies and online learning have received a lot of attention lately, as schools worldwide shifted to remote delivery. But for children and youth in refugee camps, access to education has long been embedded in digital technologi...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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28:46
Platforms and Cultural Production
As the media and cultural industries have shifted to digital platforms (like Facebook, Apple, and Amazon), massive changes in how cultural content is made, distributed, and consumed have unfolded. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of t...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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36:27
Introducing the Critical Technology podcast
A new series from the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) and Director/Professor Sara Grimes, featuring interviews with Prof. David Nieborg, Prof. Negin Dahya, Prof. Beth Coleman and other experts on the intersections of digital technology ...
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Season 1
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1:45
